CN1759382A - Transmitter apparatus and transmitting method - Google Patents

Abstract

In this invention, a server (302) sends multiple screen composition information describing the spatial configuration of the content to a receiving terminal (304), and when the receiving terminal (304) receives the multiple screen composition information, it selects the screen composition information to display the content according to the propagation environment or display capability of the receiving terminal (304), thereby realizing screen composition according to the propagation environment or display capability.

Description

Sending device and sending method

technical field

The present invention relates to a transmitting device and a transmitting method for transmitting content including media such as video, audio, text, and still images, and screen composition information for displaying the content.

Background technique

As a method of synthesizing content including text, still images, moving images, and audio, and describing spatial configuration and temporal configuration, SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language) standardized by W3C (World Wide Web Consortium, Internet Consortium) can be cited at present. synchronous multimedia integrated language) technology.

SMIL is a description language similar to HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language), which is now widely spread through the Internet, and more suitable for distributing multimedia data including moving images.

Next, an example of describing a SMIL document will be described using FIG. 1 .

In the description in FIG. 1 , the third line <layout> to the eighth line </layout> are the space configuration information of the content.

The 11th line <par> to the 16th line</par> is the time information of the reproduced content.

Areas v, t, and i for arranging dynamic images, text, and still images are defined in the fifth to seventh lines, respectively.

On the twelfth line to the fourteenth line, time information for reproducing moving images, audio, text, and still images is respectively defined. "src=" in each line from the 12th line to the 14th line specifies the URL used to obtain the media. In this example, it is specified to obtain dynamic images and Audio, and get text and still images with HTTP (Hyper TextTransport Protocol, Hypertext Transfer Protocol) protocol.

In addition, "region=" included in the 12th line or the 14th, 15th lines specifies the position where the medium is displayed, and corresponds to the area specified in the 5th to 7th lines.

For example, since the text data specified in the 14th line is region id="t", it is displayed in the region specified in the 6th line.

In addition, the line numbers in the figure are given for the convenience of explanation, and are not described in the actual SMIL document.

Next, a method for a user to play content described in SMIL stored in a server via a network will be described with reference to FIG. 2 .

A user 1604 who is a content receiving terminal acquires a SMIL document describing the content from the server 1 (1601) through a network such as the Internet using a protocol such as HTTP. After acquiring the SMIL document, the user 1604 interprets the SMIL document, and acquires various media described therein, that is, text, still images, moving images, audio, etc., from the server. Specifically, the user 1604 acquires moving image data and audio data from the server 2 (1602), and acquires text data and still image data from the server 3 (1603).

Then, the user 1604 plays the described various media at an appropriate position and time based on the spatial information and time information described in the acquired SMIL document.

However, when content is described using SMIL, the user 1604 cannot know in advance the type of multimedia data described in the SMIL document.

Furthermore, depending on the multimedia data playback capability of the user 1604, it may not be possible to decode all types of multimedia data described in the SMIL document.

In order to solve the above problems, a method for the user 1604 to obtain a decoder corresponding to the multimedia data playback capability has been proposed (for example, the method described in pages 10 to 11 and FIG. 3 of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-297538).

According to the above method, even when the receiving terminal does not have the ability to play the multimedia data specified by the scene data such as SMIL, the receiving terminal can select an appropriate decoder. Thus, the receiving terminal can decode all kinds of multimedia data conceived.

However, there are following problems in the above-mentioned media distribution method.

The above media distribution method does not take into account the transmission of multimedia data, that is, it does not take into account the fact that the receiving terminal cannot receive multimedia data.

Especially when distributing media through a wireless transmission path, even if the receiving terminal can decode the specified type of multimedia data, due to the fluctuation of the frequency band and bit error rate of the communication path, it may happen that the multimedia data specified by SMIL can be transmitted and Situations where transmission is not possible.

For example, in the third generation mobile phone system, there will be a phenomenon that a receiving terminal far from the base station can receive media data at a lower bit rate, while a receiving terminal close to the base station can receive media data at a higher bit rate.

Therefore, in a wireless environment, since the transmission frequency band of the receiving terminal differs depending on the location of the receiving terminal, the types of content that can be received also differ accordingly.

Therefore, in a receiving environment where the degradation of moving images is large due to a small transmission frequency band, when the receiving terminal uses the screen configuration information for displaying moving images, a problem of displaying deteriorated moving images occurs.

In addition, conventionally, in a portable receiving terminal having a small screen such as a mobile phone terminal or a PDA (Personal Data Assist, personal data assistant), the same screen configuration information as that of a large-screen receiving terminal such as a notebook computer is used to form a screen.

Therefore, there may be a problem that the received data exceeds the size of the small screen in the portable receiving terminal and cannot display all the content.

On the contrary, when a receiving terminal having a large screen uses the same screen configuration information as that of a portable receiving terminal, an image is displayed only in a small area of the large screen. In other words, there is a problem that images displayed on a large screen cannot be effectively utilized.

Contents of the invention

An object of the present invention is to enable display with a screen configuration corresponding to the propagation environment or display capability even in receiving terminals having different propagation environments such as transmission frequency band and packet loss rate, or receiving terminals having different display capabilities such as screen size. multimedia content.

According to the present invention, the sending terminal sends a plurality of screen configuration information describing the spatial configuration of the content, and the receiving terminal selects the screen configuration information according to conditions such as the transmission environment of the receiving terminal or the screen size when receiving a plurality of screen configuration information, and The content is displayed using the selected screen configuration information.

Accordingly, the receiving terminal can select screen configuration information corresponding to the distribution environment or display capability, and display content using the selected screen configuration information.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating description of a SMIL document;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of a program distribution method according to a conventional example;

3A is a diagram illustrating a wired network targeted by Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 3B is a diagram illustrating a mixed wired and wireless network targeted by Embodiment 1;

FIG. 3C is a diagram illustrating a wireless network targeted by Embodiment 1;

4 is a first diagram showing the configuration of a data transmission/reception system according to Embodiment 1;

5 is a second diagram showing the configuration of the data transmission/reception system according to Embodiment 1;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a reference example of program configuration information;

7 is a diagram showing screen configuration information in Embodiment 1;

8A is a first diagram showing a screen displayed on a program display unit according to Embodiment 1;

8B is a second diagram showing a screen displayed on the program display unit in Embodiment 1;

9 is a third diagram showing a screen displayed on the program display unit according to the first embodiment;

10A is a first diagram showing screen configuration information in Embodiment 1;

10B is a second diagram showing screen configuration information in Embodiment 1;

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing program information in Embodiment 1;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the operation of the server according to Embodiment 1;

13 is a flowchart showing the operation of the receiving terminal according to Embodiment 1;

14 is a fourth diagram showing a screen displayed on the program display unit according to Embodiment 1;

15 is a fifth diagram showing a screen displayed on the program display unit in Embodiment 1;

16 is a first diagram showing the configuration of a data transmission/reception system according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention;

17 is a second diagram showing the configuration of a data transmission/reception system according to Embodiment 2;

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing program configuration information in Embodiment 2;

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing another example of program configuration information in Embodiment 2;

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing program configuration information represented by difference information in Embodiment 2;

FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing the operation of the server according to Embodiment 2;

and FIG. 22 is a flowchart showing the operation of the receiving terminal according to the second embodiment.

Detailed ways

(Embodiment 1)

Next, Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described in detail using the drawings. First, the utilization mode of the communication network according to Embodiment 1 will be described using FIG. 3A . FIG. 3A is a schematic diagram showing a data transmission/reception system according to Embodiment 1. FIG.

This data transmission/reception system employs a structure in which a server 302 and a receiving terminal 304 are connected via a communication network 301 .

The receiving terminal 304 is a receiving terminal having a different display resolution or processing capability, such as a mobile phone, a television, a PDA, or a personal computer. Here, a plurality of receiving terminals 304 exist.

Furthermore, there are also a plurality of servers 302 for distribution, and the receiving terminal 304 simultaneously receives content from the plurality of servers 302 . The receiving terminal 304 may also have a function of connecting to a plurality of transmission paths.

Communication devices such as a server 302 and a receiving terminal 304 are connected to each other through a relay node 303 such as a router or a GW (Gateway). A router or GW has a broadcast function or a multicast function, and can duplicate data packets.

The communication network 301 can be a wired network (for example, ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line), ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network), ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode), FTTH (Fiber to the Home) etc.), also can be a wireless network (portable telephone, wireless LAN (local area network), etc.).

In this data transmission/reception system, the Internet Protocol is used as a transmission protocol.

In addition, as the content transmission method, a method of performing 1-to-1 communication between the server 302 and receiving terminal 304 may be used, or a method of performing 1-to-N communication using a broadcast function or a multicast function may be used. In this embodiment, multicast is performed from the server 302 to the relay node 303, and broadcast is performed from the relay node 303 to the receiving terminal.

Thereby, the receiving terminal 304 can receive the latest content by opening a predetermined channel.

In addition, various media such as moving images, audio, music, text, still images, and screen composition information can be used as objects for the content transmitted by the server 302 of the sending terminal. Server 302 transmits programs.

A program includes content, screen composition information for controlling the display position of the content, and program composition information describing the combination of the screen composition information and the content to be displayed. The content includes moving images, audio (including music), text, still Various media such as images, animations, and computer graphics.

In addition, when the receiving terminal 304 grasps the location of the screen configuration information, and the method of obtaining the address of the content to be displayed is described in the screen configuration information, the receiving terminal 304 can acquire other content by acquiring the screen configuration information. Therefore, program configuration information is unnecessary at this time.

Also, since the acquisition method of the screen configuration information cannot be specified when the content is transmitted unidirectionally such as multicast or broadcast, the screen configuration information and the content are specified using the program configuration information transmitted by a specific transmission method.

As a description method of the screen configuration information, for example, SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language, Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language) or JAVA(R) language can be used.

As a method of describing program configuration information, for example, SDP (Session Description Protocol, Session Description Protocol) can be used.

There is a detailed description of SMIL at http://www.w3.org/TR/smi120/ , and a detailed description of SDP at http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2327.txt .

In addition, the communication network may also be a communication network 305 interconnected by a wired network and a wireless network as shown in FIG. 3B . Furthermore, the communication network may also be a broadcasting network (for example, terrestrial data broadcasting or satellite data broadcasting, etc.) or a system composed of a network that integrates a broadcasting network and a communication network.

As shown in FIG. 3B , when broadcasting content to a mobile receiving terminal 307 such as a mobile phone, there is also a demand for broadcasting different content in different regions.

In the above case, when broadcasting or multicasting is performed from the server 302 to a plurality of receiving terminals 307, it is difficult to change the content of the broadcast according to the location.

In order to realize the above-mentioned broadcast based on location, in the example of FIG. Distribution is performed between terminals 307 using a broadcast function using a wireless network.

In addition, the relay node 306 that implements the broadcast function does not broadcast packets across other relay nodes 306 .

Furthermore, Embodiment 1 may also adopt the communication method as shown in FIG. 3C , that is, the communication method in which the server 302 is deployed in various places to broadcast data to nearby areas, and the receiving terminal 307 receives the data.

When the above-mentioned communication method is adopted, BlueTooth (Bluetooth) technology, wireless LAN, etc. can be used as a transmission protocol.

Next, the configuration of the transmission/reception system according to Embodiment 1 will be described in detail using FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 . 4 and 5 are diagrams showing the configuration of the transmission/reception system according to the first embodiment.

The server 302 is provided with a data management section 102 for storage and management of various data.

Data management part 102 comprises: program configuration information storage part 105, stores the program configuration information that forms program; Screen configuration information storage part 106, stores screen configuration information; A still image storage unit 108 and a character storage unit 109 for storing character data. The data management unit 102 adaptively selects these stored information and sends them to the transmission control unit 103 .

The transmission control unit 103 determines the transmission order and timing of the program configuration information, screen configuration information, and content of the program from the data management unit 102 , and sends them to the transmission unit 104 . In addition, the transmission control unit 103 also generates difference information to be described later, and sends it to the transmission unit 104 .

The transmission unit 104 transmits the information from the transmission control unit 103 to the reception terminal 304 via the communication network 301 .

The sending protocol used by the server 302 may be a protocol for receiving confirmation (for example, TCP, that is, Transmission Control Protocol), or a protocol for not performing receiving confirmation (for example, UDP, that is, User Datagram Protocol). In addition, the server 302 can also use a media transmission protocol represented by RTP (Realtime Transport Protocol, real-time transport protocol).

On the other hand, the receiving terminal 304 is provided with the receiving unit 202 which receives the transmission from the server 302 .

In addition, the receiving terminal 304 is provided with a program configuration information extracting unit 203 that extracts program configuration information from data received by the receiving unit 202 . The program configuration information extraction unit 203 outputs the extracted program configuration information to the screen configuration information selection condition extraction unit 204 and the screen configuration information generation unit 208 .

In addition, the receiving terminal 304 is provided with a screen configuration information extracting unit 205 that extracts screen configuration information from the data received by the receiving unit 202 . The screen configuration information extraction unit 205 outputs the extracted screen configuration information to the screen configuration information generation unit 208 .

In addition, the receiving terminal 304 is provided with a content extracting unit 206 for extracting content such as video, audio, files, and still images from the data received by the receiving unit 202 . The content extraction unit 206 outputs the extracted content to the program display control unit 209 .

When the screen configuration information selection condition is included in the program configuration information, the screen configuration information selection condition extraction unit 204 extracts the screen configuration information selection condition from the program configuration information, and outputs it to the screen configuration information generation unit 208 .

The terminal information acquiring unit 207 acquires the characteristic information of the receiving terminal 304 and outputs it to the screen configuration information generating unit 208 .

Examples of characteristic information of the terminal 304 include the certified transmission frequency band of the communication line connected to the terminal, the effective transmission frequency band obtained by observing the communication line, the screen size of the terminal or the number of colors that can be displayed, the processing capacity of the CPU, semiconductor The existence and capacity of storage media such as memory and disk, and the presence or absence of decoders for various media such as moving images, audio, and still images, etc.

The screen configuration information generation unit 208 selects screen configuration information that meets the conditions according to the program configuration information, screen configuration information, screen configuration information extraction conditions, and the characteristic information of the receiving terminal 304 such as the transmission frequency band acquired by the terminal information extraction unit 207 . When the sent information is difference information described later, the screen configuration information generator 208 regenerates the screen configuration information. Then, the screen configuration information generation unit 208 outputs the screen configuration information to the program display control unit 209 .

The program display control unit 209 composes a program using the content extracted by the content extraction unit 206 based on the sent screen configuration information, and outputs the program to the program display unit 210 .

Reference examples of program configuration information will be described below using FIG. 6 . FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a reference example of program configuration information.

The program configuration information describes a combination of contents of various media such as video, audio, files, and still images played as program contents, and screen configuration information that is arrangement information for displaying these contents on a screen. FIG. 6 shows an example of describing program configuration information in SDP.

In the program configuration information 400 shown in FIG. 6, information about the entire program, such as the title and manager information, is described in the part above line 401.

Also, in the program configuration information 400, information on various media is described in the portion from the line beginning with m= to the next line beginning with m=.

The first line starting with m= (line 402) is information on audio content, and ID "audio1" is given as information for specifying the audio content (line 403).

Similarly, in the program configuration information 400, information about video content (line 404, ID "video1"), information about file content (line 405, ID "text1"), and information about still image content (line 406) are described. , with ID "image1").

Also, in the program configuration information 400, information related to the screen configuration information is described (line 407, ID is "layout1").

According to the program configuration information 400 in FIG. 6 , it is known that the program uses content video1, audio1, text1 and image1, and the screen is configured according to the screen configuration information layout1.

Next, the screen configuration information sent by the server 302 will be described using FIG. 7 . FIG. 7 is a diagram showing screen configuration information transmitted by the server 302 .

The screen configuration information is information indicating where on the screen content of various media such as video, files, and still images is displayed as program content. FIG. 7 shows an example of describing screen configuration information in SMIL.

In the screen configuration information 500 shown in FIG. 7 , row 501 describes that the entire screen size is 320 dots in width and 480 dots in length.

On the other hand, in line 502 of the screen configuration information 500, it is described that an area called "video" is located 100 dots below and 10 dots to the left from the upper left corner of the entire screen, and has a width of 300 dots and a height of 300 dots. the size of.

In addition, the positions and sizes of areas called "text" and "image" are also described in the lines 503 and 504 of the screen configuration information 500, respectively.

In addition, in the row 505 of the screen configuration information 500, it is described that the video content whose ID is "video1" is displayed in the area called "video" (defined in the row 502).

Similarly, in the lines 507 and 508 of the screen configuration information 500, it is described that the contents whose IDs are "text1" and "image1" are displayed in the area called "text" (defined in line 503) and the area called "image" respectively. area (defined in line 504).

In addition, since the description in row 506 is a description related to audio content, there is no information indicating the display area.

The name "video1" of the content corresponds to the ID "video1" defined in line 404 of FIG. 6, the name "audio1" of the content corresponds to the ID "audio1" defined in line 403 of FIG. text1" corresponds to the ID "text1" defined in row 405 of FIG. 6 , and the name "image1" of the content corresponds to the ID "image1" defined in row 406 of FIG. 6 .

In this way, the various contents video1, text1, and image1 received based on the program configuration information 400 in FIG. 6 are arranged based on the screen configuration information 500 in FIG. 7 .

However, as shown in the program configuration information 400 in FIG. 6, when there is only one screen configuration information to configure one program, the following two problems arise.

1. In the case of a transmission path with a high packet loss rate or a transmission path with a narrow transmission frequency band, there is an increased probability that content with a large transmission volume, such as moving images, cannot be transmitted correctly and deteriorates.

The screen of the program display unit 210 displayed on the receiving terminal 304 at this time will be described using FIG. 8 .

Here, it is considered that in a program in which the text display area (602), the moving image display area (603) and the still image display area (604) are displayed on the display screen 601 as shown in FIG. 8A , the moving image cannot be received correctly. . At this time, as shown in FIG. 8B , the dynamic image display area 603 becomes blank, and the amount of information displayed on the screen decreases.

2. When there are terminals with different screen sizes, the screen configuration may not match the screen size.

The screen of the program display unit 210 displayed on the receiving terminal 304 at this time will be described using FIG. 9 .

If the screen composition information shown in FIG. 8A is to be displayed on a terminal with a smaller screen size, the dynamic image display area (603) as shown in FIG. 9 will be incomplete, and the entire content cannot be displayed.

Therefore, in Embodiment 1, as a first method for solving the problem when there is only one screen configuration information, the transmission control unit 103 of the server 302 is made to transmit a plurality of screen configuration information. That is, the transmission control unit 103 of the server 302 transmits screen configuration information other than the screen configuration information 500 shown in FIG. 7 .

Next, the screen configuration information transmitted by the server 302 together with the screen configuration information 500 shown in FIG. 7 will be described using FIG. 10 . FIG. 10 is a diagram showing screen configuration information in Embodiment 1. FIG.

In the screen configuration information 800 shown in FIG. 10A , only row 805 is different from the screen configuration information 500 shown in FIG. 7 .

Line 805 indicates that the content of the file represented by "text2" is displayed in the area "video", and the content of the video is not displayed.

That is, when the receiving terminal 304 selects the screen configuration information 800 instead of the screen configuration information 500, the display content can be changed from the video content to the smaller file content. This can reduce the influence of content deterioration due to packet loss.

In addition, the server 302 also transmits the screen configuration information transmitted together with the screen configuration information 800 shown in FIG. 10 as difference information. Next, the difference information sent by the server 302 will be described using FIG. 10B . FIG. 10B is a diagram showing difference information in Embodiment 1. FIG.

The transmission control unit 103 of the server 302 generates difference information described below by referring to a plurality of screen configuration information and detecting the difference.

Difference information ("layout3") 810 shown in FIG. 10B represents a difference between screen configuration information ("layout2") 800 shown in FIG. 10A and screen configuration information ("layout1") 500 shown in FIG. 7 .

Specifically, line 811 of "layout3" 810 indicates that "layout1" shown in FIG. 7 can be generated by substituting the twelfth line (line 805) of "layout2" 800 shown in FIG. 10A.

In addition, "layout3" 810 designates the replacement portion of "layout2" 800 in line 812 , and describes the content of the replacement in line 813 .

In this way, by transmitting the difference information "layout3" as "layout1" 500 and "layout2" 800, two screen information can actually be notified without transmitting "layout1" 500. Furthermore, by using the difference information "layout3" 810 of "layout2" 800 to transmit "layout1" 500, the amount of information of the screen configuration information to be transmitted can be reduced.

In addition, in the first embodiment, the output form of the diff command of the UNIX (R) operating system is used as an example of the expression form of the difference information 810 , and other expression forms of the difference information may also be used.

In addition, in this embodiment, since a plurality of pieces of screen information are transmitted, the program composition information has a plurality of pieces of screen composition information. Furthermore, the screen configuration information selection condition for selecting one screen configuration information from a plurality of screen configuration information is described in the program configuration information.

Next, the program configuration information when the server 302 transmits two pieces of screen configuration information "layout2" and "layout3" will be described with reference to Fig. 11 . FIG. 11 is a diagram showing program information in Embodiment 1. FIG.

In the program configuration information 900 shown in FIG. 11 , it is described in lines 901, 902, 903, 904, and 907 that the program is sending "text1", "text2", "image1", "layout2" and "layout3". ".

In this way, it is described that the program has a plurality of screen configuration information of "layout2" and "layout3".

Also, in line 905 of the program information 900, it is described that the screen configuration information indicated by "layout2" is used when the transmission bandwidth is equal to or less than 96,000 bits per second. Row 905 of program information 900 is a selection condition of screen configuration information, and the condition is that either "layout2" or "layout3" is selected.

In addition, priority is described in line 906 of program information 900, and is used to determine which screen configuration information to select when receiving terminal 304 can select a plurality of screen configuration information based on the screen configuration information selection condition indicating the transmission frequency band.

Row 906 of program information 900 is also a screen configuration information selection condition, and the condition is to select either "layout2" or "layout3".

In addition, in the line 908 of the program information 900, it is described that the screen configuration information indicated by "layout3" is difference information based on "layout2". That is, "layout3" means "layout1" at this time. In addition, when the difference information is not used as the screen configuration information, there is no description in line 908 .

Also, in line 909 of the program information 900, it is described that the screen configuration information indicated by "layout3" is used when the transmission bandwidth is equal to or greater than 64001 bits per second and equal to or less than 384000 bits.

In addition, in the line 910 of the program information 900, the priority of "layout3" is described.

Lines 909 and 910 of the program information 900 are also screen configuration information selection conditions.

When the receiving terminal 304 can receive two pieces of screen configuration information "layout2" and "layout3" without loss, and can select both "layout2" and "layout1" restored from the difference information "layout3" according to the screen configuration information selection condition , the receiving terminal 304 selects one according to the priority, for example, "layout3" with a higher value of priority (that is, "layout1" restored from it).

Next, an operation when the server 302 transmits program configuration information, screen configuration information, and content will be described using FIG. 12 . FIG. 12 is an operation flowchart of the server according to the first embodiment.

First, the transmission control unit 103 of the server 302 extracts program configuration information from the program configuration information storage unit 105 of the data management unit 102 (step 1001).

Then, the transmission control unit 103 refers to the extracted program configuration information, and detects a plurality of screen configuration information described in the program configuration information (step 1002). Subsequently, the detected screen configuration information is extracted from the screen configuration information storage unit 106 (step 1003).

In addition, when the screen configuration information extracted in step 1002 is difference information, the transmission control unit 103 extracts the difference information.

Then, the transmission control unit 103 extracts the video, still image, and text described in the program information extracted in step 1001 from the video storage unit 107, still image storage unit 108, and character storage unit 109 (step 1004).

Then, the transmission control unit 103 transmits the program configuration information extracted in step 1001 to the receiving terminal 304 via the transmission unit 104 (step 1005). Next, the transmission control unit 103 transmits the screen configuration information described in the program configuration information extracted in step 1003 to the receiving terminal 304 via the transmission unit 104 (step 1006). Subsequently, the transmission control unit 103 transmits the content extracted in step 1004 to the receiving terminal 304 via the transmission unit 104 (step 1007).

In this way, the server 302 transmits the program configuration information, the plurality of screen configuration information, and the content to the receiving terminal 304 .

Next, the operation of receiving terminal 304 will be described using FIG. 13 . FIG. 13 is a flowchart of the operation of receiving terminal 304 according to the first embodiment.

First, the receiving terminal 304 receives various data in the receiving unit 202 . Then, the screen configuration information extraction unit 205 extracts a plurality of screen configuration information from the received various data, and sends it to the screen configuration information generation unit 208 (step 1301 ).

Then, when the screen configuration information generation unit 208 learns that the received screen configuration information includes differential screen configuration information (step 1302), it checks whether reference screen configuration information corresponding to the differential screen configuration information has been received (step 1303).

Taking FIG. 11 as an example, when "layout3" is received, it is known from line 908 that "layout3" is difference information based on "layout2", so the screen configuration information generator 208 checks whether "layout2" is received. Upon receiving the reference screen configuration information ("layout2"), the screen configuration information generator 208 restores the difference to generate screen configuration information (in the example of FIG. 11, "layout1" is generated).

Then, the screen configuration information generation unit 208 uses the conditions described in the difference information as screen configuration information selection conditions corresponding to the generated screen configuration information (line 909, step 1304). The screen configuration information selection condition is extracted by the screen configuration information selection condition extraction unit 204 .

On the other hand, if the reference screen configuration information corresponding to the differential screen configuration information is not received in step 1303, the screen configuration information generation unit 208 holds until the reference screen configuration information ("layout2") can be received, or discards it (step 1305).

Then, the screen configuration information generating unit 208 checks whether or not the screen configuration information selection condition has been received (step 1306).

In addition, in this embodiment, it is set that the screen configuration information selection condition is included in the program configuration information, but it may not be described in the program configuration information. At this time, the screen composition information selection condition may be transmitted in another transmission mode, or the screen composition information selection condition may not be transmitted at all. If not transmitted, the screen may be configured using screen configuration information that can be received by the receiving terminal without defects.

When the screen configuration information selection condition is received, the screen configuration information generator 208 extracts screen configuration information that meets the condition (step 1307).

Since the program configuration information selection condition is a condition for selecting screen configuration information suitable for the transmission state of the receiving terminal 304, the receiving terminal 304 can select screen configuration information suitable for itself.

On the other hand, when the screen configuration information selection condition has not been received, the screen configuration information generation unit 208 extracts all the received screen configuration information (step 1308).

Then, when a plurality of pieces of screen configuration information are extracted, the screen configuration information generator 208 selects the screen configuration information with the highest priority added to the screen configuration information (step 1309 ).

The more preferred the displayed content, the higher its priority. Thus, since the priority information is described in the screen configuration information, even when there is a plurality of screen configuration information suitable for the screen configuration information selection condition according to the transmission condition, the receiving terminal 304 can select the screen configuration information to be preferably displayed.

Then, the screen configuration information generation unit 208 sends the selected screen configuration information to the program display control unit 209 .

The program display control unit 209 selects the content described in the sent screen configuration information from the content extracted by the content extraction unit 206 . Then, the program display control unit 209 generates a program using the sent screen configuration information and the selected content, and outputs it to the program display unit 210 (step 1310).

Then, the program display unit 210 displays the transmitted program (step 1311).

In this way, the receiving terminal 304 can select screen configuration information suitable for itself from the received pieces of screen configuration information, generate and display a program using the screen configuration information suitable for itself.

For example, when the receiving terminal 304 receives layout2 and layout3 shown in FIG. 10 and the program configuration information described in FIG. 11, as shown in FIG. Area 623 to display text.

Since the text content smaller than the dynamic image content has a low probability of being lost during reception, the receiving terminal 304 can receive and display it correctly even when the transmission status is not good. Therefore, when the transmission status is bad, the receiving terminal 304 can display text content as shown in FIG. 14 to display more information than when displaying a missing moving image ( FIG. 8B ).

As described above, according to Embodiment 1, receiving terminal 304 can select screen configuration information according to the distribution environment, and display content using the selected screen configuration information. Since the screen configuration information selected according to the distribution environment is information using content receivable by the receiving terminal 304, the receiving terminal 304 can display a screen using the screen configuration information using the receivable content.

In addition, Embodiment 1 can also be applied to a case where the display screen size of the receiving terminal 304 is different. By writing "a=terminal:pc" and "a=terminal:pda" instead of the screen configuration information selection condition "a=bandwidth:..." (for example, line 905 in FIG. 11), a screen for a personal computer can be specified. Composition information and screen composition information for PDA. In addition, it is also possible to directly describe the screen size as "a=terminal: 640×480", without using the description such as "pc" or "pda" indicating the type of terminal.

By interpreting these descriptions and specifying the screen configuration information by the receiving terminal 304, even when the receiving terminal 304 has a small display screen 601 as shown in FIG. For example, as shown in FIG. 15 , only characters 602 and still images 713 are displayed on the display screen 601 without missing.

In addition, although the embodiment has been described in which the screen configuration information selection condition is described in the program configuration information, it may be an embodiment in which the screen configuration information selection condition is described in the screen configuration information.

In this case, for example, the screen configuration information selection condition <condition bandwidth="-96000"/> is described in the screen configuration information shown in FIG. 10A or FIG. 10B. Specifically, in the screen configuration information shown in FIG. 10A , screen configuration information selection conditions are described between </layout> and </head>.

In addition, although the content that can be displayed on the screen has been described in Embodiment 1, the same output selection can be performed for audio content.

For example, since the screen configuration information SMIL used in Embodiment 1 can also be used to describe audio content, it is set to switch from screen configuration information describing large-capacity audio content to screen configuration information describing small-capacity audio content. That's it. In this way, the problem of missing audio content to be played due to the transmission state can be prevented.

Alternatively, the processing performed by the server 302 and the receiving terminal 304 may be programmed and stored in a storage medium, and the program may be read and executed by a general-purpose computer.

(Embodiment 2)

As a second method for solving the problem when there is only one screen configuration information, Embodiment 2 of the present invention causes the server to transmit a plurality of program configuration information.

First, the configuration of the transmission/reception system according to Embodiment 2 will be described in detail using FIG. 16 and FIG. 17 . 16 and 17 are diagrams showing the configuration of a data transmission/reception system according to the second embodiment. However, the same parts as those already described are assigned the same numbers, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

First, the server 1301 according to Embodiment 2 will be described.

First, the transmission control unit 1302 of the server 1301 extracts a plurality of pieces of program configuration information 105 and transmits them to the receiving terminal 1303 of Embodiment 2 through the transmission unit 104 .

Also, when transmitting a plurality of pieces of program configuration information, the transmission control unit 1302 uses difference information of these program configuration information, that is, differential program information. Also, the transmission control unit 1302 detects a difference from a plurality of pieces of program information and generates difference program information.

Next, the structure of receiving terminal 1303 will be described.

The receiving terminal 1303 is provided with a program configuration information selection condition extraction unit 1404 for extracting the program configuration information selection condition when the program configuration information output by the program configuration information extraction unit 203 contains the program configuration information selection condition. The program configuration information selection condition extraction unit 1404 outputs the extracted program configuration information selection condition to the program configuration information generation unit 1408 .

The program configuration information generation unit 1408 selects program configuration information suitable for the program configuration information extraction condition based on information such as the transmission band obtained from the terminal information acquisition unit 207 . Also, if the program configuration information is described using difference information from other programs, the program configuration information generation unit 1408 regenerates the program configuration information. The program configuration information generation unit 1408 sends the obtained program configuration information to the screen configuration information extraction unit 1409 .

The screen configuration information extraction unit 1409 extracts the screen configuration information described in the received program configuration information, and sends it to the program display control unit 209 .

Next, the program configuration information transmitted by the server 1301 will be described using FIG. 18 . FIG. 18 is a diagram showing program configuration information in Embodiment 2. FIG.

The name "program1" is described in row 1001 of program configuration information 1600 according to the second embodiment.

In addition, in line 1002 of the program configuration information 1600, it is described that the program configuration information is used when the transmission bandwidth is equal to or greater than 64001 bits per second and equal to or less than 384000 bits per second. The description in line 1002 is the program configuration information selection condition.

In this way, in Embodiment 2, since the server 1301 transmits a plurality of pieces of program configuration information, the receiving terminal 1303 assigns program configuration information selection conditions to the program configuration information to select appropriate program configuration information.

In addition, priority is described in row 1003 of program configuration information 1600, and is used to determine which program configuration information to select when the receiving terminal 1303 can select a plurality of program configuration information based on the program configuration information selection condition (row 1002) indicating the transmission frequency band. .

In addition, row 1003 of program configuration information 1600 is also referred to as program configuration information selection condition.

In addition, lines 1004 to 1008 of program configuration information 1600 describe that the program is composed of "audio1", "video1", "text1", "image1" and screen configuration information "layout1".

Another example of Embodiment 2 will be described using FIG. 19 . FIG. 19 is a diagram showing another example of program configuration information in Embodiment 2. FIG.

Row 1101 of program configuration information 1700 shown in FIG. 19 is called "program2".

Also, in line 1102 of the program configuration information 1700, it is described that the program information is used as the program configuration information selection condition when the transmission bandwidth is 96,000 bits or less.

In addition, in the line 1103 of the program configuration information 1700, it is described that the priority is 3. In this embodiment, the greater the value of the priority, the higher the priority.

In addition, in lines 1104 to 1107 of program configuration information 1700, it is described that the program is composed of "text1", "text2", "image1" and screen configuration information "layout2".

Server 1301 transmits program configuration information "program1" 1600 and "program2" 1700 to which program information selection conditions are assigned.

In addition, the server 1301 may transmit difference information as program configuration information.

The program configuration information represented by the difference information (difference program configuration information) will be described using FIG. 20 . FIG. 20 is a diagram showing program configuration information represented by difference information in Embodiment 2. FIG.

Similar to the differential screen configuration information in Embodiment 1, the differential program configuration information uses the output format of the UNIX(R) diff command.

The name "program3" is described in row 1201 of differential program configuration information 1800 shown in FIG. 20 .

In addition, in the row 1202 of the differential program configuration information 1800, it is described that the program configuration information is the difference information of the program configuration information indicated by "program2".

Also, in row 1203 of differential program configuration information 1800, it is described that the program configuration information is used when the transmission bandwidth is equal to or greater than 64001 bits per second and equal to or less than 384000 bits (program configuration information selection condition).

In addition, in the line 1204 of the difference program configuration information 1800, it is described that the priority is 4 (program configuration information selection condition).

In addition, in row 1205 and row 1206 of differential program configuration information 1800, it is described that contents "audio1" and "video1" are added to "program2".

In addition, in line 1207 of the differential program configuration information 1800, it is described that "text2" is deleted from "program2".

Also, in lines 1208 and 1209 of the differential program configuration information 1800, it is described that screen configuration information "layout1" is added and "layout2" is deleted.

The server 1301 may also adopt the method of transmitting program composition information "program2" and differential program information "program3". This can reduce the amount of information of the pieces of program configuration information that the server 1301 transmits to the receiving terminal 1303 .

Next, the operation when the server 1301 transmits program configuration information, screen configuration information, and content will be described using FIG. 21 . FIG. 21 is an operation flowchart of the server according to the second embodiment.

First, the transmission control unit 1302 of the server 1301 extracts program configuration information from the program configuration information storage unit 105 of the data management unit 102 (step 1901).

Then, the transmission control unit 1302 refers to the extracted program configuration information, and detects the screen configuration information described in the program configuration information (step 1902). Subsequently, the detected screen configuration information is extracted from the screen configuration information storage unit 106 (step 1903).

Then, the transmission control unit 1302 extracts the video, still image and text described in the program information extracted in step 1901 from the video storage unit 107, still image storage unit 108, and character storage unit 109 (step 1904).

Then, the transmission control unit 1302 transmits the program configuration information extracted in step 1901 to the receiving terminal 1303 via the transmission unit 104 (step 1905). Next, the transmission control unit 1302 transmits the screen configuration information described in the program configuration information extracted in step 1903 to the receiving terminal 1303 via the transmission unit 104 (step 1906). Subsequently, transmission control section 1302 transmits the content extracted at step 1904 to receiving terminal 1303 via transmission section 104 (step 1907).

Then, the transmission control unit 1302 performs the processing of steps 1901 to 1907 on all the program configuration information to be transmitted (step 1908).

Also, when the program configuration information extracted in step 1901 is differential information, the transmission control unit 1302 extracts differential program information.

In this way, the server 1301 transmits to the receiving terminal 1303 a plurality of pieces of program configuration information, screen configuration information and contents described in the program configuration information.

Next, the operation of receiving terminal 1303 according to Embodiment 2 will be described using FIG. 22 . FIG. 22 is a flowchart of the operation of receiving terminal 1303 according to the second embodiment.

First, the receiving terminal 1303 receives various data in the receiving unit 202 . Then, the program configuration information extraction unit 203 extracts a plurality of pieces of program configuration information from the received various data, and sends it to the program configuration information generation unit 1408 (step 1501).

Then, when the program configuration information generation unit 1408 learns that differential program configuration information is included in the transmitted plurality of program configuration information (step 1502), it checks whether the reference program configuration information corresponding to the difference program configuration information has been received (step 1503 ).

Taking FIG. 20 as an example, when "program3" is received, it is known from line 1202 that "program3" is difference information based on "program2", so the program configuration information generator 1408 checks whether "program2" is received.

Upon receiving the reference program configuration information ("program2"), the program configuration information generator 1408 restores the difference to generate program configuration information (in the example of FIG. 20, "program1").

Then, the program configuration information generating unit 1408 uses the conditions described in the difference information as program configuration information selection conditions corresponding to the generated program configuration information (line 1203, step 1504). The program configuration information selection condition is extracted by the program configuration information selection condition extraction unit 1404 .

On the other hand, if the reference program configuration information corresponding to the differential program configuration information has not been received, the program configuration information generation unit 1408 holds until the reference program configuration information ("program2") can be received, or discards it (step 1505).

Then, the program configuration information generating unit 1408 checks whether or not the program configuration information selection condition has been received (step 1506).

In Embodiment 2, it is set that the program configuration information selection condition is included in the program configuration information, but it may not be described in the program configuration information. At this time, the program composition information selection condition may be transmitted in other transmission modes, or the program composition information selection condition may not be transmitted at all. If not transmitted, the program may be configured using program configuration information that can be received by the receiving terminal without loss.

Then, upon receiving the program configuration information selection condition, the program configuration information generator 1408 extracts program configuration information that meets the condition (step 1507).

Since the program configuration information selection condition indicates the transmission condition of the receiving terminal 1303, the receiving terminal 1303 can thereby select program configuration information suitable for the transmission condition.

On the other hand, when the program configuration information selection condition has not been received, the program configuration information generator 1408 extracts all the received program configuration information (step 1508).

In this way, when a plurality of pieces of program configuration information are extracted, the program configuration information generator 1408 selects the program configuration information assigned the highest priority (step 1509).

The more preferred the displayed content, the higher its priority. Thus, since priority information is described in program configuration information, receiving terminal 1303 can select program configuration information to be preferentially displayed even when there is a plurality of program configuration information suitable for program configuration information selection conditions according to transmission conditions.

Then, the program configuration information generation unit 1408 sends the selected program configuration information to the screen configuration information extraction unit 1409 .

The screen configuration information extraction unit 1409 extracts the screen configuration information described in the sent program configuration information, and sends it to the program display control unit 209 (step 1510).

Then, the program display control unit 209 selects the content described in the sent screen configuration information from the content extracted by the content extraction unit 206 . Then, the program display control unit 209 generates a program using the sent screen configuration information and the selected content, and outputs it to the program display unit 210 (step 1511).

Then, the program display unit 210 displays the transmitted program (step 1512).

In this way, the receiving terminal 1303 can select the program configuration information suitable for itself from the received pieces of program configuration information, generate a program using the program configuration information suitable for itself, and display it.

Likewise in Embodiment 2, when the receiving terminal 1303 receives layout2 and layout3 shown in FIG. 10 and the program configuration information shown in FIG. 11 , as shown in FIG. Characters are displayed in the character display area 623 instead.

In addition, Embodiment 2 can also be applied to a case where the display screen size of the receiving terminal 1303 is different. By writing "a=terminal:pc" and "a=terminal:pda" instead of the program configuration information selection condition "a=bandwidth:..." (for example, line 1002 in FIG. 18), a screen for a personal computer can be specified. Composition information and screen composition information for PDA. In addition, it is also possible to directly describe the screen size as "a=terminal: 640×480", without using the description such as "pc" or "pda" indicating the type of terminal.

By interpreting these descriptions and specifying the program configuration information by the receiving terminal 1303, even when the receiving terminal 1303 has a small display screen 601 as shown in FIG.

Alternatively, the processing performed by the server 1301 and the receiving terminal 1303 may be programmed and stored in a storage medium, and the program may be read and executed by a general-purpose computer.

This specification is based on Japanese Patent Application Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-065670 filed on March 11, 2003. Its contents are included here in its entirety for reference.

Industrial Applicability

As described above, according to the present invention, in a transmission environment such as broadcasting in which the transmission frequency band differs between receiving terminals and the types of receivable content are also different, by switching the screen configuration information, only the information that can be displayed according to the transmission frequency band is displayed. can avoid the defect of reducing the amount of displayed information due to deteriorating content.

In addition, by switching the screen configuration information according to the screen size of the receiving terminal and specifying and displaying the screen configuration information suitable for the screen size, it is possible to avoid the problem of not being able to display all content beyond a small screen, or to obtain a larger screen that can only be displayed on a large screen. Problems displayed on a small scale.

Claims (26)

1. A sending device, characterized in that, comprising: a content storage unit for storing content; a screen configuration information storage unit for storing a plurality of screen configuration information describing the screen configuration of the content; a control section for extracting the content and the plurality of screen configuration information; and a sending unit, configured to send the extracted content and multiple screen composition information; Here, the control unit transmits a selection condition for selecting one piece of the screen configuration information from the plurality of screen configuration information. 2. The transmission device according to claim 1, wherein the selection condition is described in the screen configuration information. 3. The transmission device according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of screen configuration information includes: reference screen configuration information, and differential screen configuration information that is a difference from the reference screen configuration information. 4. The transmission device according to claim 1, wherein the selection condition is at least one of a transmission frequency band, a type of a transmission target terminal, and a processing capability of a transmission target terminal. 5. The transmission device according to claim 1, wherein the selection condition is priority information. 6. The transmission device according to claim 1, further comprising a program configuration information storage unit for storing said content, said screen configuration information, and for selecting one program from said screen configuration information. A plurality of program composition information of the selection condition of the screen composition information; Wherein the control unit extracts a plurality of the program configuration information, detects the content and the screen configuration information described in the extracted program configuration information, and extracts the detected content and screen constitute information; The transmitting unit transmits the extracted pieces of program configuration information, the content, and screen configuration information. 7. The transmission device according to claim 6, wherein the plurality of program configuration information includes: the program configuration information as a reference, and a differential program configuration of a difference from the program configuration information as a reference information. 8. The transmission device according to claim 6, wherein the selection condition is at least one of a transmission frequency band, a type of a transmission target terminal, and a processing capability of a transmission target terminal. 9. The transmission device according to claim 6, wherein the selection condition is priority information. 10. A receiving device, characterized in that it comprises: a receiving unit configured to receive content, one or more screen configuration information describing the screen configuration of the content, and a selection condition for selecting one of the screen configuration information from the one or more screen configuration information; a screen configuration information selection unit configured to select one of the screen configuration information from the plurality of screen configuration information according to the selection condition; a screen generating unit configured to generate a screen based on the selected screen configuration information and the content; and The display unit is configured to display the generated screen. 11. The receiving device according to claim 10, wherein the received plurality of screen composition information includes: the reference screen composition information, and the difference from the reference screen composition information Differential screen composition information, Wherein, when the differential screen composition information is selected, the screen generation unit regenerates the screen composition information according to the reference screen composition information and the differential screen composition information, and based on the generated screen The composition information and the content constituting the generated screen composition information are used to generate a screen. 12. The receiving apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the selection condition is at least one of a transmission frequency band, a type of terminal, and a processing capability of the terminal. 13. The receiving device according to claim 12, further comprising: a terminal information acquisition unit configured to observe the effective transmission frequency band of the receiving unit, Here, the selection condition is a transmission frequency band observed by the terminal information acquiring unit. 14. The receiving apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the selection condition is priority information. 15. The receiving apparatus as claimed in claim 10, characterized in that, The receiving section receives a plurality of program configuration information describing the content, the screen configuration information, and selection conditions; and the receiving device further includes: a program configuration information selection unit configured to select one of the program configuration information from the plurality of program configuration information based on the selection condition described in the plurality of program configuration information; a program generating unit configured to generate a screen based on the content constituting the selected program configuration information and the screen configuration information; and The display unit is configured to display the generated screen. 16. The receiving device according to claim 15, wherein the received plurality of program configuration information includes: the reference program configuration information and the difference between the reference program configuration information The differential program composition information; The program generating unit regenerates the program configuration information based on the reference program configuration information and the differential program configuration information when the differential program configuration information is selected, and based on the generated program configuration information , forming the content of the generated program configuration information and the screen configuration information to generate a screen. 17. The receiving apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the selection condition is at least one of a transmission frequency band, a type of terminal, and a processing capability of the terminal. 18. The receiving apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the selection condition is priority information. 19. A data sending/receiving system, comprising: A sending device having: The content storage unit stores content; a screen configuration information storage unit for storing a plurality of screen configuration information describing the screen configuration of the content; a control section for extracting the content and the plurality of screen configuration information; and a sending unit, configured to send the extracted content and multiple screen composition information; Wherein, the control unit transmits the information for selecting one of the plurality of screen configuration information The selection conditions of the screen composition information; and A receiving device having: a receiving unit configured to receive the content, one or more screen configuration information, and a selection condition for selecting one screen configuration information from the one or more screen configuration information; a screen configuration information selection unit for configuring from the plurality of screens according to the selection condition Selecting one of the screens in the information constitutes the information; a screen generating unit configured to generate a screen based on the selected screen configuration information and the content; and The display unit is configured to display the generated screen. 20. A sending method, characterized in that, comprising the following steps: Send Content; transmitting a plurality of screen configuration information describing the screen configuration of the content; and A screen configuration information selection condition for selecting one screen configuration information from the plurality of screen configuration information is transmitted. 21. A content browsing method, comprising the following steps: receive content; receiving a plurality of screen composition information describing the screen configuration of the content; receiving a screen configuration information selection condition for selecting one screen configuration information from the plurality of screen configuration information; selecting one piece of the screen composition information according to the selection condition of the screen composition information; generating a screen based on the selected screen configuration information and the content constituting the selected screen configuration information; and The generated screen is displayed. 22. A content browsing method, characterized in that: The sender includes the following steps: Send Content; transmitting a plurality of screen configuration information describing the screen configuration of the content; and transmitting a screen configuration information selection condition for selecting one screen configuration information from the plurality of screen configuration information; and The receiver includes the following steps: receive said content; receiving the plurality of screen composition information; Receiving the screen constitutes an information selection condition; selecting one piece of the screen composition information according to the selection condition of the screen composition information; generating a screen based on the content constituting the selected screen configuration information; and The generated screen is displayed. 23. A program characterized by causing a computer to execute the following processing: Send Content; transmitting a plurality of screen configuration information describing the screen configuration of the content; and A screen configuration information selection condition for selecting one screen configuration information from the plurality of screen configuration information is transmitted. 24. A program characterized by causing a computer to execute the following processing: receive content; receiving a plurality of screen composition information describing the screen configuration of the content; receiving a screen configuration information selection condition for selecting one screen configuration information from the plurality of screen configuration information; selecting one piece of the screen composition information according to the selection condition of the screen composition information; generating a screen based on the content constituting the selected screen configuration information; and The generated screen is displayed. 25. A storage medium storing the program according to claim 23. 26. A storage medium storing the program according to claim 24.

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